On Sunday, celebrity host Jimmy Kimmel explained that the Oscars are an important opportunity for liberals to tell conservatives to be liberals.
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The same day, another celebrity, Paul Allen found the wreck of the USS Lexington.
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Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, stated that paying “tribute to the USS Lexington and the brave men that served on her is an honor, as Americans, all of us owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who served and who continue to serve our country for their courage, persistence and sacrifice.”
Indeed.
Yet in this single day juxtaposition between Kimmel and Allen, we see two distinct paths of celebrity and wealth. In Kimmel, we see the choice to use celebrity and wealth to push a distinct worldview and politicize entertainment. In Allen, we see the choice to use celebrity and wealth to fund the study of history and unify a country around noble ideals — in this case, the ideal of national service and sacrifice in defense of freedom.
After all, when the Lexington was lost in war nearly 76 years ago, it took with it more than 200 American sailors. Those young men gave their lives in the noble cause of defeating Japanese imperialism. And now, thanks to his personal patriotism, Allen has given the dead their immortal memorial.
Of course, Allen spent millions of dollars on his expedition without any guarantee of success. Sending multiple ships and crews out to sea with the highest-end equipment is no simple task, nor does it carry with it the kind of easy glamour and public adoration that Kimmel’s one-liners give him each night.
But Allen’s is a more noble task.
Because having found the Lexington, Allen has also provided another chapter to America’s history at war. With the images that Americans can now see of the Lexington’s wreck resting peacefully deep in the Pacific Ocean, they’ll gain new insight to the horror and heroism of the Battle of the Coral Sea in which Lexington was lost and the war that battle helped to win.
Though it was lost at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, Lexington’s contribution in smashing the Japanese Imperial Navy’s carrier fleet helped lay the foundation for what would happen a month later at Midway.
Because it was at the Battle of Midway that the U.S. Navy would achieve naval supremacy over Japan and seize the strategic initiative of the war.
Think about that. Within 9 months of the devastating defeat at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. had thrown Japan onto the back foot and on course towards defeat. It was thanks to aggressive crews like that of Lexington that the victory would come sooner rather than later.
As I say, celebrity matters. Without this finding on March 4, many Americans would never have heard of the Lexington and what its crew and the other crews of the Pacific won.
Watch the reruns of the Oscars, just consider a quite special tweet.
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